[First filed: March 02, 2009 @ 13:11]
So back to reality and a vast mountain of emails.
After a raucous after-party the die hards were packing up in a subdued manner this morning. With my ride up to the festival catatonic and showing no signs of life I carried my bags to the road and stuck out my thumb. 30 seconds later a woman driving an old ambulance pulled up and offered me a ride. Her husband was in hospital after falling through a geodesic dome and being from out of town she wanted help finding the hospital.
I think that rather sums up Corinbank 09 for me.
I missed the National Tallbike Jousting Championship because it clashed with the Cashews’ farewell guerilla gig. Chris Gleeson of the Missing Lincolns was declared the winner but that’s the subject of some debate amongst those who watched the competition.
The Cashews farewell was a wonderful thing held in the camping kitchen with a couple of hundred devoted fans and very few dry eyes. Sleep deprivation and massive alcohol consumption may have made us all literally tired and emotional but it was a real tear jerker. To finish it up Alison and Pete lead their crowd back to the festival in song.
I was speaking to Johnny Payphone yesterday afternoon and because his life is basically touring the world going to festivals I was interested in what thought about Corinbank. He sucked his teeth, scratched his head, and said “you’ve got an amazing cross-section of society here for three days and nobody’s been an asshole.”
Canberrans who haven’t been won’t understand what a huge advertisement for the city the festival is becoming with visitors from far and wide being blown away by what a fun, and friendly event it is in a beautiful setting.
Late in the afternoon of the last day I looked around the Gibraltar stage area, a large expanse of grass, and counted three pieces of garbage on the ground.
Three! After a three day festival with hundreds of people eating, drinking, and lolling around.
So a huge cheer from me to the organisers, their army of volunteers, and everyone else who was there being so totally great to each other.
I’ve got some video of the closing parade which I’ll get up in the next couple of days, after I’ve showered, slept, and waded through all your emails.
(Slideshow below)